I just recently purchased an 89 Firedbird (5spd v6) without a steering column. I went to some local junkyards to find one and all of the firebirds had no column or they were destroyed so I took one out of a late 80 or early 90's camaro that had the same engine. Thing is, I don't know what year it was but I do know neither mine nor the camaro had tilt or cruise control and all the wiring hooked up. I had a VATS key made for the ignition and when I tried to start the car nothing happened. I checked and replaced the starter; nothing. Clutch switch works to my knowledge. Anyways, I was told mabe I needed to have the ECU reprogrammed to turn over with the new ignition and column. What do you think?

 

First you need to make sure the column has VATS ignition, which you would see a yellow or orange coated wire poking out from the bottom of the column. I think yellow is for the air bag (if equipped) so i think orange is VATS, my brain is misleading me at the moment.

Second, if you used ignition and key from the new column, the first issue is you didn't grab the coordinated VATS module to work with that specific key. Haven't seen it myself yet, but you need to tear the dash of the donor car in the yard completely off to get to it, it's mounted behind the radio by the firewall and attatched to the HVAC box. Like i said, i have yet to have to cross this road although i'm not far from having to do this. I got a column just like you and forgot all about the box. But my research has lead me to the answer i gave you above. Hope it works as it's what i'm banking on when i go to the junk yard next week.

Jon

 

Definitely have to have the matching parts... You guys have to either swap the VATS stuff from your existing columns into the replacements or grab the whole deal from the donors (if they still have them). Either that or play "guess which of the 15 key codes is the right one?" . Without that signal, no cranking and no fuel injection occurs.

Lida, without the car's original ignition key, you WILL need to grab the donor's VATS module. Beware that getting to the thing (if it is where mine is, from the factory, even though mine is an add-on) is going to be a real pain in the rear, possibly needing to have the dash shell removed to get at the mounting screws.